colgeove



(No Model.)

J. GOLGROVE.

POTATO BIGGER.

Patented Oct. 7, 1890.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4/ A ll: I m

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. OOLGROVE.

. POTATO BIGGER.

No. 437,679. PatentedOot. 7, 1890.

James OoZgroi/e UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES COLGROVE, OF CLEAR WATER, MINNESOTA.

POTATO- DIGGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,679, dated October7, 1890.

Application filed March 8, 1890.

To all whom it may concern.-

Beitknown that 1, JAMES CoLGRovE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Clear \Vater, in the county of WVright and State ofMinnesota, have invented a new and useful Potato Digger, Picker, andSacker, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to potato-diggers; and among the objects inview are to provide a cheaply-constructed and simple machine, adapted todig, clean, and deliver the potatoes, separating from the same the topsthereof.

With the above main and other minor objects in view the inventionconsists in certan features of construction hereinafter specified, andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure lis a side elevation of apotato-digger constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is aplan. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section. Fig. 4 is a front elevation.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all the figures of thedrawings.

The machine comprises an oblong frame, consisting of side bars 1,connected at their ends by transverse bars 2. The side bars 1 arecontinued beyond the front transverse bar, are converged, and terminatein a hook 3, which engages an eye 4, formed on the rear end of thetongue or draft-bar 5. The tongue or draft-bar 5 is supported upon anopen frame 6, the front portion of which is extended at opposite sidesto form converging hounds 7. This frame 6 is mounted upon a frontcrankaXle 8, provided at opposite sides with groundwheels 9. A driversseat 10 is mounted on the rear portion of the tongue 5, and anoperating-lever 12 is rigidly secured to the crankaXle, said lever beingprovided with a springlatch 13, designed to engage a toothed sector 14.By the construction thus far described it will be apparent that bymanipulation of the handle 12, which, it will be understood, projectswithin easy grasp of the drivers seat, the crank-axle may be raised andlowered, and with it the front end of the oblong frame. The oblong frameat each of its sides and near its rear end is provided with dependingside supporting frames formed by two downwardly-disposed converging-bars15,which bars terminate at their lower ends in a bearing 16 Serial No.343,160. (No model.)

' for the rear axle 17, which axle is provided with ground-wheels 18.

J ournaled in each of the end bars 2 of the frame is a pair of rollers19, the peripheries of which are flanged and supported by the rollers isa longitudinally-disposed cylinder 20, consisting of opposite end chinesor hoops 21, which form tracks for the rollers, which chines areconnected by a series of longitudinally-disposed parallel rods or bars22.

A rod 23 depends from one of the side bars 1 near the rear wheel, and isprovided at its lower end with'a bearing 24, in which there is journaleda shaft 25, the rear end of which is journaled in a bearing formed atthe lower end of the side frame adjacent thereto.

A master-gear 27 is secured to the spokes of the adjacent ground-wheel1S and meshes with a small pinion 28, mounted on the shaft 25, whichshaft at its rear end carries agearwheel 29. A ring-gear 3O encirclesthe cylinder 22 at its rear end, and engaging the same in the gear 29,so that motion imparted by the ground-wheel and master-gear to the shaft25 and its gear is transmitted to the cylinder 22 and the latter isrevolved.

Mounted in the cylinder 22 and extending from end to end of the same isa spiral elevator or carrier 32, which carrier is secured to the bars ofthe cylinder and moves therewith.

'Supportedin hangers 33, at the front of the oblong frame, is a shovel34, the rear end of which terminates opposite the front opening of thecylinder 20.

Upon the reach 11 is mounted abridge 38, j ournaled in which and thereach is a vertical shaft 39, the upper and lower ends of which projectabove and below the bridge and reach, respectively. Above the bridge theshaft is provided with a gear 40, which engages a series of beveledteeth formed upon and projecting from the front chine of the cylinder,whereby motion is imparted from the cylinder to the gear and its shaft,which latter carries at its lower end a wheel 41, from the rim of whichthere depends a series of teeth 42. The diameter of the wheel is greaterthan the width of the shovel, so that said wheel extends beyond the sameat each side. The object of this toothed wheel is to engage thepotato-tops as they are caught by the shovel, twist the same from thepotatoes, and cast them from the machine at each side of the shovel, sothat when the potatoes enter the cylinder they are free from the topsand only require a separation of the earth therefrom.

A platform 36 is located at the rear end of the machine for theaccommodation of an attendant, said platform being supported by hangers37 projecting from the rear end of the cylinder-frame.

The operation of my invention is as follows: By operating the lever 12the shovel 34 is given a'desired inclination so as to enter the hillsand the machine started. The potatoes are gathered from the hillsuntopped and passed back into the open cylinder 20, where they arecaught by the spiral conveyer and thoroughly rocked back and forthacross the same until they are crowded back to the rear end. of thecylinder, by which time the earth willbe thoroughly separated therefrom,after which the potatoes are delivered at the rear end of the cylinderinto a basket to be carried by the attendant. The clods of earth comingfrom the potatoes are by the constant agitation given them by thecylinder sufficiently crushed or powdered to pass between the bars andfall to the ground.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In apotato-digger, the combination, with a revoluble cylinder and means foroperating the same, of a circular-tooth ed potato-top separator mountedon the frame and operated by the cylinder, substantially as specified.

a revoluble cylinder having a gear and means for revolving the same, ofa toothed-wheel potato-top separator supported in front of the 2. In apotato-digger, the combination, with cylinder and meshing with the gear,substantially as specified.

3. I11 a potato-digger, the combination, with an oblong frame, theopposite side frames depending from the opposite sides thereof, and thedepending rod 23 in rear of one of the side frames, of the cylindermounted in the frame and provided at its rear end With a gearing, shaftspassing longitudinally through the cylinder, rollers journaled upon theends of the shafts and supporting the cylinder, an axle mounted in theside frames and provided with ground-wheels and a master-gear, astubshaft journaled in the depending rod, and a pinion on the end of thesame and engaging the gear-ring of the cylinder, substantially asspecified.

4. In apotato-digger, the combination, with an oblong frame extended atits front, the

axle, and the ground-wheels and master-gear I thereon, of the oppositeshafts journaled in the end bars of the frame and provided with rollers,the open cylinder mounted for rotation upon the rollers and provided atits front and rear ends with ring-gears, a toothed wheel and its shaftjournaled in the said extending portion of the frame, a gear thereonengaging and driven by the front ringear of the cylinder, and a train ofgearing connecting the master-gear with the rear gear of the cylinder,substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

- JAMES COLGROVE. WVitnesses:

O. B. WESTLAKE, W. W. WEBsTER.

